Sessional_Paper_1904 — Page 505

31

NO. 1904

HONGKONG.

A GENERAL REPORT ON THE SURVEY OF THE NEW TERRITORY FROM NOVEMBER, 1899, TO APRIL, 1904.

Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government.

TRAVERSE SURVEY.

1. The strength of the Traverse section at the beginning of operations consisted of 3 Surveyors with 2 Indian coolies each. The chaining squads were made up of Chinese coolies who proved most unsatisfactory; the training of these men was a hopeless task as they were constantly deserting or going away and leaving sub- stitutes. Want of experience on the part of these chainmen led to constant revision of their work, but in spite of the delays I was fortunately able to keep the traverse work ahead of the cadastral section. This was a serious question at that time, as the Cadastral Surveyors were being paid at contract rates, and their earnings depended on the regular supply of skeleton plots, the results of the traverse work.

During the first season, from November, 1899, to June, 1900, the following Districts and Sub-Districts were traversed :-

a. The whole of New Kowloon.

6. The whole of Unlong District with the exception of Tai Lam Chung

Sub-District.

c. The whole of Sheung U District with the exception of Hap Wo Sub-

District.

d: The Luk Yuck District.

e. Sub-Districts Wo Hang, Ha Po and Liu Ma Hang of the Sha Tau Kok

District.

The theodolite was set up at 2,383 new Stations and the total amount of chaining was 27,480.85 chains or 343.51 linear miles, while the angular work was checked by the results of 18 astrononomical observations for azimuth. The Cadastral Surveyors experienced great difficulty in finding the traverse stations which were marked with wooden pickets; the children from the villages being the principal offenders in uprooting them. It was not till the close of the season that steps were taken to permanently mark some of the stations; it was then decided to mark only the trijunction, with adjoining stations of traverse blocks, 575 clay cylinders were accordingly embedded. In June, 1900, one Tra- verse Surveyor resigned and one was dismissed; only one man remained, but before the beginning of the next field season we were fortunate in obtaining the services of another man from the Siam Survey Department

In consequence of the trouble we had experienced with Chinese coolies in season 1899-1900, it was thought advisable to procure 30 trained survey coolies from India; these men arrived in November, 1900.

2. In November, 1900, I made Tai Po my headquarters and started the new field season with 2 Traverse Surveyors, their chaining squads consisting of trained Indian coolies.

The work was very difficult and tedious owing to the extremely hilly nature of the country, and progress was rather slow as angles of elevation and depression had to be taken at almost every Station, in order to reduce all measurements to the horizontal.

Of the 4,114 new Stations at which the theodolite was set up, 2,277, being in cultivated tracts, were marked with clay cylinders; the remaining 1,837 Stations, which were on the hillsides away from cultivation and of no use whatever to the Detail Surveyor, were marked with wooden pegs.